Day Two of Yellowstone in July

Early the next morning we find the elk nursery.  One generally finds it up around Fort Yellowstone in the northwestern corner of the Park.  These guys, er, girls, had just crossed the road in front of us and were headed for a pond.

And just down the road, a deer with his new rack of antlers.

Oh, wait!  There's TWO of them.

And did I mention that Yellowstone has scenery, too.

I don't even know who these guys are.  Some kind of crane?

This looks more like a painting than a photograph.  The steam to the left is from vents in the bank of the river.  This is inside the volcano's caldera - all of the vents and geyser's are.  The main features of the caldera would be inside this 35 mile by 45 mile wide area.  That is one humongous volcano!

This would be an Osprey and her two young chicks.  

This nest is located on the tallest pinnacle in the middle of the next photo.  This is why they invented zoom lenses.

I'm always surprised when we find pelicans in Yellowstone.  

I always thought pelicans belonged on the seashore.

Now, what's this brown bump in the landscape?

Well, looky here!  It's the three little bears!  (Ya' gotta love that zoom!)

And yes, these would be grizzlies.

There was a Park Ranger who was determined (rightly so) to keep tourists at least 100 yards away from these wild, free-range top-of-the-food-chain predators - especially because it was a MOMMA grizzly and her babies!  I'm only 5' 2" (and shrinking) so it was really difficult for me to raise the camera high enough to clear the grass.  I found a clump of prairie grasses that would raise me up another couple of inches, but it was hard to keep my balance standing on it on my tiptoes.  Even so, I got some pretty good video footage:

That makes four bears on this two day trip.  Not too shabby.

(Please let me know through the comments section below if you are able to watch the video.  Thanks!)